Promoting strong public schools for Providence\’s East Side and beyond

ProJo on Regents’ Meeting

ProJo education reporter Linda Borg was at last night’s Regents’ meeting asking tons of questions and taking copious notes. Oddly, it seems this first step in the City’s $700M master plan for renovating Providence schools didn’t merit any space in the morning paper. I did find Linda’s report in the ProJo blog last night, but (for reasons I can’t imagine) it’s no longer there. Here, then, is her report, which you can find (and comment on!) here

Nathan Bishop Middle School to be renovated

PROVIDENCE — Providence has gotten the green light to renovate Nathan Bishop Middle School on the city’s East Side and an expanded career and technical center next to Central High School on Westminster Street. Together, both projects will cost $75.8 million, of which the state will pay $60.6 million.

The Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education approved the school construction projects at a special meeting this afternoon. These are the first two school projects to be approved under the state’s stringent new school construction regulations passed by the General Assembly last spring.

The $35-million Nathan Bishop renovation will completely remodel the building’s interior while preserving the brick exterior. The school will have the capacity to accommodate 750 students, who will grouped into clusters of four classrooms per floor.

In April, Providence Supt. Donnie Evans stunned parents when he decided to close Nathan Bishop for one year over the strong objections of everyone except the school’s neighbors. When the community complained about the lack of public input, Evans appointed a study committee to come up with recommendations to re-open Bishop as a model middle school that would attract East Side families, many of whom have fled the public schools.

The committee recommended renovating, rather than rebuilding, the existing middle school, which is considered a landmark in the Elmgrove neighborhood.

Last night, members of the study committee expressed relief that Nathan Bishop would re-open.

“I’m extraordinarily encouraged and thrilled that the regents approved this,” said Tom Schmeling, a member of the East Side Public Education Coalition. “But we’ve got quite a ways to go.”

The new career & technical center will cost $40.8 million and involve building an addition to the existing Hanley Career & Technical Center, which has already undergone extensive renovations. The career center will feature a state-of-the-art construction trades program and will accommodate 800 students.